Tasted from barrel (botte number 10) at the winery, the Soldera Case Basse 2021 100% Sangiovese is shaping up to be an epic wine from an excellent vintage. It fully embraces the house style with a bright and luminous appearance that folds seamlessly into fresh berry, redcurrant, heritage rose, licorice root and an elegant note of wet slate or lingering petrichor. All of these beautiful varietal tones are wrapped tightly together and emerge with lifted intensity from the glass. I can't wait to taste this wine from bottle, when these various elements have had more time to amalgamate and settle. I also tasted the very punchy and fruit-forward 2022 vintage from barrel as well as the 2023 vintage that was still quite closed. The 2021 growing season saw an important frost event on April 6-7 but otherwise experienced normal spring weather and a hot summer. Harvest started on September 6th. The final blend will be assembled and the wine will go back into botte before going into glass. The actual bottling date will be decided sometime in spring 2025. The 2020s are in bottle at the winery and are expected to stay there for another six to eight months. A release date for the 2020s has not yet been announced.

The 2021 Sangiovese was tasted from a 50-hectoliter cask and displays more tension compared to the 2020 and 2022 vintages. Aromatically, it boasts a more savory and red-fruited profile, with notes of raspberries, licorice, and blood orange. The palate is more vertical as well, with fine coiled tannins, an even spine of acidity and notable mouthwatering salinity, and nervous energy propelling through its long finish. The saline touch is present in each of the wines, though it’s more pronounced in this wine. The 2021 is certainly going to need time to assess, but right now it’s the most austere. This January, I was able to meet with Monica Soldera, who operates her family estate in Montalcino today. Having grown up in Milan, her father Gianfranco Soldera began his professional career as an insurance broker before setting out to establish his winery in June 1972, and he remained at the helm until he died in 2019 while working in the vineyards. He worked very closely with his numerous and esteemed friends, such as Giovanni Conterno, Josko Gravner, Mauro Mascarello, and Bepe Rinaldi, to establish his methodology in the vineyards and cellar. The property consists of 23 hectares and includes ten hectares of Sangiovese and eight hectares of forest, with a large focus on biodiversity. They work closely with the University of Florence, and walking the property, you’ll find multiple stations throughout the vineyards that transmit data to their teams. In the vineyard, Yuri Romboli leads the team and works closely with his alma mater at the University of Florence. Graziella Soldera has curated one of the most significant and thorough gardens, spanning over two hectares, that includes hundreds of species of roses, trees, and plants from around the world. They are no longer a part of the Consorzio, though nothing has changed in terms of their production methods. They opt to label their wines as 100% Sangiovese to shine light on them as singular wines rather than featuring the appellation. In the cellar, they work with large Slavonian oak casks with spontaneous fermentations. Each of these three wines were tasted from cask in the estate cellar.